Labour: The racist party
MP Umunna says it’s guilty of institutional racism for failing to tackle anti-Semites
LABOUR is ‘institutionally racist’, a former frontbencher has warned in an extraordinary attack on his own party.
Chuka Umunna, who once stood as a leadership candidate, said the party met the full definition of the term as set out in a police inquiry.
Last week the MP for Streatham called on leader Jeremy Corbyn to ‘call off the dogs’ following votes of no confidence in moderate Labour MPs.
Speaking yesterday, he said: ‘If you look at the definition of institutional racism as outlined by Sir William Macpherson in the Macpherson Report – and the Macpherson Inquiry produced the institutional racism definition – it’s beyond doubt for me that [The Labour Party] has met it – it’s very painful for me to say that.
He told Sky News’s Sophy Ridge On Sunday show: ‘Part of the reason I joined the Labour Party, my party, my family started supporting the party was because it was an anti-racist party and I think the failure to deal with the racism that is anti-Semitism is particular and clearly is a problem.’
Sir William’s definition of institutional racism was central to his 1999 report about the police investigation into the racist murder of Stephen Lawrence. Sir William defined ‘institutional racism’ as: ‘The collective failure of an organisation to provide an appropriate and professional service to people because of their colour, culture, or ethnic origin.
‘It can be seen or detected in processes, attitudes and behaviour which amount to discrimination through unwitting prejudice, ignorance, thoughtlessness and racist stereotyping which disadvantage minority ethnic people.’
Despite the charge, Mr Umunna vowed to stay as a Labour member because he felt it was better to ‘try and argue and see change through in an organisation’ rather than ‘leave the field’.
His remarks came as Labour Friends of Israel chairman Joan Ryan, a former minister under Tony Blair, and Luton South MP Gavin Shuker, both lost local no confidence votes on Thursday.
Chris Leslie became the latest MP to face a no confidence vote among local ward members, and will now face a constituency-wide vote. The Nottingham East MP said his party had been infiltrated by the ‘ intolerant hard left’, and the move had been ‘orchestrated nationally’. Yesterday, Mr Shuker warned that his colleagues were at ‘breaking point’ and the party could become a ‘personality cult’.
He said Labour was in danger of becoming an ‘increasingly narrow leftist sect’ and he said the targeting of centre- left MPs was a national issue.
‘They see the moves against them locally – which by the way the leadership could step in and do something about and choose not to,’ he told BBC Radio 4.
Labour has battled to contain the fallout from the anti-Semitism crisis that has engulfed the party over the summer.
It follows the wreath-laying controversy in which Mr Corbyn was forced to defend his presence at a ceremony at a graveyard in Tunisia where terrorists were buried.
The leadership also faced fury over its initial refusal to adopt the widely accepted full definition of anti-Semitism, as set out by the International Holocaust Remembrance Association.
It has since agreed to adopt the definition and all relevant examples in an attempt to stem criticism. Labour Party chairman Ian Lavery told Sky that Mr Umunna’s call was ‘disrespectful’ and ‘offensive’.
He said: ‘Calling anybody a dog is absolutely outrageous in the extreme, and Chuka Umunna of all people should know that.
‘And I hope that when he comes on to your show this morning that he takes this opportunity of apologising to those people who he’s offended immensely.
‘These are the people who keep Chuka Umunna and myself and other MPs in a job.’
But Mr Umunna defended his remarks, saying: ‘The phrase that I used is a metaphor, it’s a figure of speech.’ Shadow chancellor John McDonnell claimed Mr Umunna was ‘inventing stories’ and called on him to back his party.
It comes after former chairman of the Equality and Human Rights Commission Trevor Phillips claimed the Labour Party is ‘led by anti-Semites and racists’.
Mr Phillips, who served as a Labour member of the London Assembly for three years, told the Mail on Sunday that rows about anti-Semitism are ‘killing our party’. Mr Corbyn’s office said Mr Phillips’ comments were ‘wrong and offensive’.
Last night Mr Corbyn vowed to tackle the ‘social cancer’ of antiSemitism in the party as he acknowledged it was a ‘difficult time’ for Britain’s Jewish community. He said: ‘I’d like to reiterate the Labour Party stands in solidarity with the Jewish community in the fight against anti-Semitism.’
‘Failure to deal with racism’